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Press Release

ADL Praises Apple For Removing Hezbollah TV App From iTunes Store

New York, NY, July 31, 2012 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today praised Apple Inc. for removing an application the terrorist group Hezbollah was advertising on the iTunes store promoting streaming video from their Lebanon-based satellite network, Al-Manar.

The app, which had been advertised on the air by Al-Manar, directed users to various broadcast content, including speeches by Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah is a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and Al-Manar was included on the State Department's Terrorism Exclusion List in December 2004.

"As the media arm of the terrorist group Hezbollah, Al-Manar is a source for anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda and messages of hate and violence," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We commend Apple for removing the app from the iTunes store and appreciate their vigilance in ensuring that terrorist-affiliated organizations will not have access to Apple's customers."

The app first appeared on July 25 and was advertised on the web site of Al-Manar TV. The app had been removed by July 29. As of this writing it is still available for other platforms, such as Android.

Al-Manar broad­casts the ter­ror­ist group's mes­sages of hate and vio­lence, dis­sem­i­nates anti-Semitic and anti-American pro­pa­ganda and glo­ri­fies sui­cide bomb­ings to mil­lions of view­ers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Al-Manar has a pres­ence on other inter­net plat­forms as well, includ­ing a Twit­ter account with over 17,000 fol­low­ers and 51,000 mes­sages.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.